Passenger Car's

[HoModeler]

I have been looking for PRR or LVRR Passenger Car's Not Hi in Price & decent quality built in materials. I had a set of 4 LVRR passenger car's I got from a yard sale a wile back but they did not work well uncoupled a lot did not roll good on the rails I even changed to steel wheels (I think they where OLD Athern car's. I wound up throwing them away. So I am in search of new decent Passenger Car's.... Any help on this subject Thanks

[Trainman203]

1. Yard sale stuff is 99 percent junk, buyer beware. 

2. Most things "are" repairable if you know how,  :)which leads to no. 3.....

3.   Don't ever throw anything away.  You eventually will do something with it.

[RAM]

I am with trainman.  Athern are good cars.  I never had any trouble with them other than the fact that they are truck mounted couplers.  If you try to run long cars with truck mounted couplers that are coupled to a car with body mounted couplers, then you can have derailments.  I don't know why spell check doesn't like couplers. 

[Len]

A truck tuner, http://www.micromark.com/ho-truck-tuner,8241.html, can help improve the rolling characteristics of the plastic trucks found on many cars.

I've also found body mounting on Athearn, and similar, passenger cars using the Kadee #451 Extended Swing Gearbox http://www.kadee.com/htmbord/page451.htm helps on the tight (18"/22" radius) curves most people use.

Len

[jbrock27]

1. Yard sale stuff is 99 percent junk, buyer beware. 

Really?!?  I beg your pardon, but that all depends on what manufacturer is being represented at the Yard Sale.

[Trainman203]

That's why I said 99 percent, Brock.  😂

[jbrock27]

I know what you said and 99% is without merit.  But I guess you thought it was funny or truthful, take your pick 'cause it was neither.

[Trainman203]

It's all relative to personal experience Brock.  The yard sales and a lot of train shows where Ive seen used HO stuff, there have been too many defective or broken items, with no cautionary offered.  Down here, 99 percent is a pretty real figure.

You may have seen a better ratio of quality merchandise and that is possible where more items are out in circulation.  But from I've seen I'd be surprised to find things much different in other places.  I still think it is very good advice to a beginner to buy used trains with knowledge of what you are getting .  Wouldn't you agree with that? The chances of decent luck may be better in your neighborhood, and that would be great.

[Desertdweller]

You should be so lucky out here to even find a yard sale with any model trains.  I suspect yard sale trains would probably be cheap items to begin with, and likely to have been worn out.

On the other hand, I have bought some very serviceable items second-hand at hobby shops or at hobby shop displays at train shows.  The hobby shops have reputations to protect, even with second-hand items.

Les

[jbrock27]

It's all relative to personal experience Brock.

Agree, which is why you should qualify it as such and not make a blanket statement.

I still think it is very good advice to a beginner to buy used trains with knowledge of what you are getting .  Wouldn't you agree with that?

I absolutely do .  Too many have no clue, regardless of WHERE they buy from.  Why?  No time spent doing any research.  
Were you giving advice about gaining knowledge before buying?  Because I did not see that anyhwere, just a warning to "beware", whatever that constitutes.

You should be so lucky out here to even find a yard sale with any model trains.

Les

That's been my experience as well. But I certainly read alot of accounts of folks buying decent items from "Yard Sales".  In fairness, I also see that the TYCO boys bring home lots of what I would certainly consider, junk.  That said, I can't make the statement that Yard sale stuff is 99 percent junk.
We should quantify what a "Yard Sale" is.  Does that include "Flea Markets"?  "Church Sales"?  "Barn Sales"?  How about "Estate Sales"?  Ever see items advertised on Ebay that came from "Estate Sales"?  A lot of it is definitely NOT junk.  But then, one would actually have to look in order to see that instead of simply being the type that devotes themselves to driving back and forth to a Hobby Shop for 4 hours or having others do their train modifications for them...

On the other hand, I have bought some very serviceable items second-hand at hobby shops or at hobby shop displays at train shows.  
Les

I'm not a fan of train shows and have given my reasons why ad infinitum here and won't repeat myself.  Talk about junk?!?  Gimme a break, ever see the kind of junk that shows up repeatedly at Train Shows?!?  Les, does "second-hand hobby shops" include Pawn Shops?  Consignment Shops?  What exactly is a "Second Hand Hobby Shop"?

[Trainman203]

I'm on vacation in the Ozarks, not in English composition class , so I'm not going to worry too much about precision. But I will say that I've seen a whole lot of HO railroad stuff out on tables at sales and shows of various kinds, and here's what I see repeatedly :

Missing wheel sets or trucks, couplers bent broken or missing, steam engine side rods bent or missing, diesel trucks missing side frames, boxcar doors missing , considerable cosmetic wear in the form of hits and gouges, and on and on..

In short, the used trains I've seen are way more than "used", they've been through hell and back .

Plus, the ones I see at these sales environments are mostly gaudy day-glo colors intended for the toy market.  I've bought some cars like these and repainted, detailed, and outfitted them with good couplers and trucks and come up with a nice car.  But this is different from a beginner buying something expecting it to work well.

I "have " bought high quality things at train shows but it's always been though a dealer.

About "estate" sales...... I myself have never seen one with trains.  We've all heard horror stories about the widow happily throwing away brass steam engines to get the sewing room back. In my area two guys with attic sized layouts have recently passed with not a word anywhere about disposition of the stuff, not even local forums. I've told one of my friends to hurry up and get my stuff out fast before it's pitched..  

Enough .. .... We're going hiking....

[Jerrys HO]

And thank you, Brock, for your over the top hyper-criticism and trip-wire judgmentalism and constant negativity , and in general making this place un- fun.  Enough is enough, man. Let the rest of us enjoy this place.  End of conversation for me.  Carry on at will, dude, if you wish.

and some wonder why I disappeared for awhile   I found it's better to ignore than fuel.
Back to the subject, my first set of passenger cars were Athearn and others. Since I have been collecting the Bachmann UP cars and they are nice/ My plans for the others may include a diner or train wreck 

[Trainman203]

You are right Jerry and that is what I should have done.  I can do better and will.  Back to passenger cars , my Bachmann 72' heavyweight SR combine is a beautiful car.  I only wish I'd gotten it and the coach in MP when they were out.  I had all the Athearn heavyweights at one time , they were fine cars.

[on30gn15]

English can be a baffling language, especially the phrase of (some word) + sale: it seems the same format can have at least three different meanings.
1.) shoe sale, appliance sale, book sale - the item named is what is on sale
2.) (name of some holiday) sale - stuff will be on sale around the holiday date but that stuff does not always include stuff directly purposed for the holiday. For example, a Columbus Day sale can include bath towels, which now that I think about it, he might have needed, plus some soap, after weeks cramped together in a little bitty boat, but it is a couple centuries too late for the towels to be of any benefit to Columbus.
3.) garage sale, yard sale - the yard and the garage are most decidedly not for sale.
Will you English speaking people please make up your minds what you want your language to do!  

[Jerrys HO]

Brock.... From now on.... Silence is golden.

  I like that! but hell would freeze if it were true